S1: EP 012: Partner to employee - making a positive impact across health and social care
Download MP3Hi. What the health tech listeners? I'm your host this week, Hayley Levine. This is the podcast where we tackle some of the trending topics, ideas, and best practice in health and social care. This week, we're speaking to Craig Rainford.
Hayley Levene:Craig recently joined Radha Healthcare as our new project manager, has worked for Four Seasons Healthcare for 20 years, was it? Yeah. A long time. Outside of work, Craig loves sports, and alongside his daily daily visit to the gym, even on a Sunday. Yeah.
Hayley Levene:Okay. Not Eli's in his his intro. You can often be found at the Etihad Stadium supporting Manchester City. I mean, this intro is just not going down well. I'm I'm all ready.
Hayley Levene:I don't like City. So welcome to What the Hell, Tech. How how are you happy to be here?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. A new experience for me, but definitely looking forward to it.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. No. It's good to have you here. So I just wanna chat to you about making the move from Four Seasons to RADA Healthcare, what why you decided to make the move after 20 years, and kind of the differences between working from a partner to a supplier. So let's get started.
Hayley Levene:So the question on all of our lips, why why did you make the move after 20 years to Radar Healthcare?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. So I'd say this has gotta be probably the most asked question that I've had in, yeah, the last, like, 6 or 7 weeks that I've been at Radar. I mean, rightly so. Yeah. Having worked for a company for 20 years, it's always gonna be, the number one question.
Craig Rainford:And I think for me, yeah, the the reason for the move was because it it was just kind of like the right time. I I'd worked obviously for 4 seasons for 20 years, and working in the health and social care sector, I've kind of become very passionate and proud, to kind of like work in that sector because it's it's a rewarding sector. It's challenging, but it's ever so rewarding, especially when you can see the impact that it has on the people that are kind of like the end of that service that you're delivering. So, yeah, it just kind of like felt like it was the right time. And it's one of those things that I kinda like look back well, look back at my time with 4 seasons and think it was kind of a privilege, like getting into the industry.
Craig Rainford:Obviously, my background kind of like being IT and all the time that I sort of like spent sort of like progressing through various different roles. Yeah. I've learned like sort of like so much there. And, you know, I'm very thankful to 4 seasons for, you know, the knowledge and the experience that I've gained through working with them, in all that time because had I not have sort of, like, been there, I maybe would never have ended up at Radar after all. So, again, maybe perhaps the reason that I'm here is because of that, given the fact that they're also a customer of Radar as well.
Craig Rainford:So yeah. So in terms of the movie, it was just kind of like the right time after having spent 20 years. It kind of felt like I needed a new challenge, something more to sink my teeth into. And I guess this has always been kind of like an area that I've been interested in in a subtle sort of way.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. So like you say, Four Seasons are a partner of Radar, and I think you've worked with us for the past, is it, 2 years?
Craig Rainford:That's right. Yeah.
Hayley Levene:And you've been working with one of our project managers most of the time, who you called Sarah. So obviously making the move here, how how do you think you can help other organizations? Obviously, switching from partner to to supplier, what what's your experience, and how can you help?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. So you're quite right. Obviously, we've been, working well, when I was working for Four Seasons, we'd been a partner with Radar for for 2 years. And I think, yeah, that can hopefully, it's gonna benefit me, but hopefully, it's gonna benefit our customers. You know, I kind of have the the knowledge and experience that I've gained there of essentially going on the same journey as what any customer that I'll be onboarded onto the product has gone through, albeit it's always gonna be different.
Craig Rainford:Obviously, the beauty of Radar is that it's so customizable, so configurable. And I I think that's really important, and it's one of the main reasons why 4 seasons bought it in the first place. So having been, like, the project lead on the customer side, I've gone through, like, you know, you know, I've got firsthand experience of, you know, what those challenges may be, especially working for an organization that, you know, 4 seasons is is huge and still is huge. I think at the time, it was I'll probably get the numbers wrong here, but it's in excess of a 150 services across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey. And that comes with its challenges.
Craig Rainford:Lots of different regulators, whether it's CQC, whether it's Care Inspector. Jersey and Northern Ireland obviously have their own regulatory bodies as well. So yeah. And at the time, Four Seasons were also going through a period a period of change, like, structurally in terms of the way the organization was being run. So, yeah, our journey was quite complex.
Craig Rainford:Not every journey will be as complex. There'll be more that there'll be some that are more complex than ours. But, yeah, I think from my perspective, it's just having that appreciation, I think, of what the customer's gonna go through. And hopefully, I can bring something to the table when customers are going through that journey in terms of, number 1, delivering a project, but also having appreciation of it's not always gonna go according to plan on their side, and maybe being able to sort of, like, help with the experience knowledge that I've sort of, like, gained over the way.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. How do you feel about that challenge moving from because obviously, you've seen one version of a project, albeit very complicated project, lots of different services. How do you feel about kind of taking new approaches and meeting different customers that want different things?
Craig Rainford:It's kind of the reason why I'm here, because that excites me. After being at a company for 20 years and obviously working in the way that I've been working for for that time, albeit not doing the same role for the whole period of time, but you work with specific people, and this process is kind of, like, embedded into organizations. So I suppose it will be a little bit difficult to me to sort of, like, break away of that thinking in terms of I very much knew what 4 seasons wanted before they even asked and how they wanted something to be delivered. But at the same time, you know, that won't be right for every single company. And even now, like 6 or 7 weeks in, you know, I've been shadowing, like, all the project manager calls with other customers that are not necessarily care home businesses, but, you know, they might be dentistries.
Craig Rainford:They might be ambulance services. And it's actually really interesting, and I'm enjoying it just listening to sort of, like, what it is that they want to do with the product. And it's obviously encouraging the fact that the product is able to sort of, like, be customized to that level that they want. And, you know, I'm starting to feed into those conversations a little bit like, oh, have you thought about doing it this way or have you thought about doing it that way? And it becomes just kind of like a natural conversation and partnership working really to sort of like both meet, you know, what the customer wants and obviously radar, making sure that the customer maximizes the potential.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Partnership working is what we're all about and having someone like you who can actually give advice from the experience of an actual organization in social care is gonna be really key for our customers. So quite excited to see what you do. No pressure, Craig.
Craig Rainford:Oh, no. Maybe setting myself up here.
Hayley Levene:So how's it been? 1st couple of months, how are you getting on with the team? How you don't you don't have to lie if you're not liking it. You know? No one's listening, really.
Hayley Levene:How's it going?
Craig Rainford:No. Really good. I have to say, you know, first day was nerve wracking. Not necessarily because, you know, working for Radar, more just those natural sort of, like, first day nerves that you're always gonna get when you join a new company, or at least I suspect most people sort of, like, go through those feelings. And I think that was only sort of, like, amplified, I think, for me because I basically worked for the same company for 20 years.
Craig Rainford:So it's not an experience that I'm kind of, like, used to being the new guy at a new company. So, yeah, my first day, was a good day, a really enjoyable day. I was, meeting the new team at Leeds in our Leeds office. So my first day actually started with, a train commute. Now I normally drive everywhere that I go because I just don't like relying on public transport whatsoever.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. So I just like the fact that I can just get in my car whenever I want and just go wherever I need to go to. But that would involve a trip on the lovely M62, which True. I think most people, have a hatred for that motorway, me especially, and especially at at rush hour as well. So, yeah, the train just seemed a sensible approach.
Craig Rainford:And I actually really like it. I probably do, like, a day yeah. I do it a day a week, so, like, in the Leeds office. And I I actually really enjoy that commute because I can just get on the train. Thankfully, there hasn't actually been a single delay.
Craig Rainford:It's always run like clockwork at the moment going to and going from, which is always nice. But, yeah, it's actually allowed me time to do something that I've always liked the idea of doing. But for whatever reason, I just never dedicate time to it because either there's something on TV or there's a football match that I can watch or or whatever. There's always something where I can just think, yeah, I don't have to do that. And that's it's basically reading a book.
Craig Rainford:So I've always liked the idea of doing it. And, you know, Christmas presents, birthday presents, I'll buy a series of books, but, and I'll read probably, like, 3 or 4 pages of them, and then I'll never look at them again. So, yeah, Sophie and my partner's always forever saying, you know, what's the point in buying new books? Because you never ever read them. So
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. I'm actually enjoying my hour. So, like, on the train, I can just switch off and I can just read a good book. So yeah. At the moment, I'm reading Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight.
Craig Rainford:So it's basically, the story of Nike. So one of the biggest brands in the world. So Yeah. Yeah. It's actually really interesting sort of like where that was born from and how it came about to become one of the biggest brands in the world.
Craig Rainford:So, yeah, it's a good read. I recommend it.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. I might have to check that out. But on your next journey, you can listen to yourself on a podcast.
Craig Rainford:Well but yeah. And then I suppose arriving at the Leeds office, it was quite nice because the whole team were in, on that particular day, because it coincided with, a project team meeting. So it's actually I was kinda nervous at the fact that joining a new company, what was that onboarding process gonna look like? Obviously, there's a lot of remote working. I was gonna be based from home given the fact that I live in Greater Manchester.
Craig Rainford:So how would that work? And it gives a kind of, I suppose, a new angle and an added challenge to the fact of how do you build relationships with, you know, all the members of the team if you're not sort of like sat in a room with them. So, yeah, I was kind of semi conscious of that, I suppose. So, yeah, the first day was great because it just gave me the opportunity to meet the team sort of like face to face and not even just the project team, also the wider team. There's a few people from marketing, Hannah from HR was in.
Craig Rainford:There's a few, different people that were in. So, yeah, it was really nice. And I suppose the good thing is is that everybody was so welcoming, and that's been right the way through as I've sort of, like, met people sort of along the way and really, really supportive.
Hayley Levene:That's good. How how's the onboarding process been for you?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. It's been good. As I said, I was nervous about it because I was or apprehensive, should I say, because how is that done when you're not together and you're not working with your team? But I like the fact that it's just been so it's so varied. Yeah.
Craig Rainford:So there's a good mix of, like, one to 1 and group training, on a variety of different topics with different people. The group training has been interesting because there's kind of like a program that includes, like, all the all the new starters, not necessarily from projects either. So there's been new starters from the development team or there's new starters from customer success or from the support team, and that's actually been really nice because everybody looks at Radar or works with Radar in a different way. So the way that we train and the way that we learn about it, we all touch it in different ways and means, and we'll all support customers in different ways. So it's actually been quite nice to there's been questions that have been raised on there that I would never think about because I'd maybe never used the product in that way.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. And it's a good way obviously to meet all the people of the team. So I'm quite surprised obviously. A couple of people that were on there, one of which lives like 10 minutes down the road from me.
Hayley Levene:Oh, really?
Craig Rainford:Which yeah. Small world and all that. So yeah. So it's been really nice. So that's been nice, the fact that it's been so varied, and the fact that I've had an opportunity to sort of, like, sit down with my line manager, and go through sort of like objectives for, like, the next 6 months.
Craig Rainford:Because I really like that just because we can agree, you know, what am I aiming for? What are the goals here? And how am I gonna be measured in terms of, you know, performance and success with the company? So, yeah, it's good to sort of, like, get that set out from the outset, really.
Hayley Levene:That's good. I'm sure Chloe would like to hear that. So obviously going back to your experience with, Four Seasons. So what do you think that you can provide to other organizations or what's, like, a piece of advice that you would give to them when they're thinking about a big implementation like this? Yeah.
Craig Rainford:So I have thought about this question quite a lot. I'll be honest. And it's quite varied, I think, maybe my answer. I suppose it all depends on it depends on the particular business. It depends on where they are.
Craig Rainford:It depends on what their current processes are right now, whether they've got have they got systems already? Are they just using paper or Excel or, how how nurtured are they, I suppose, in the systems that they're using? And I think you've got to kind of maybe take a step back and not just look at a a short term problem that you might have at that time that you're trying to fix, but actually take a step back and look at, like, the overall picture and try and get a full understanding of what is it that you're actually trying to achieve, and what are the overall goals. So, you know, what is your digital strategy? What are you what are you working towards?
Craig Rainford:Not Yeah. I've got this problem and I need to fix it. So I'll buy this system to do that. So yeah. It's yeah.
Craig Rainford:It's putting your head head above water really and sort of like looking what's out there and just making sure that you're addressing that and you're forward thinking, I suppose. Yeah. I think that's it's and as I said, there's no there's no one size fits all to that question. It's it just depends on where where you are at that time and what it is that you're looking to do and making sure that yeah. Whatever system it is that you're looking at, is it gonna be scalable to your requirements?
Craig Rainford:Are the team behind it gonna be able to support you? And does it fit in with that sort of, like, overall strategy or is it just fixing a short term problem? It's not an easy thing to sort of, like, do, but I think it's something that's vital, to the whole process overall.
Hayley Levene:And are there any challenges that you faced in particular when you were working on that side that you think people should think about?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. I mean, I think the particular challenge that I had with Radar was the fact that it was 3 systems that we were kind of, like, nurturing into 1. So that was our particular challenge. We had systems that are kind of like already been they were well mature, so a lot in the business, but they didn't do exactly what we wanted to do. Hence, the reason for the change.
Craig Rainford:And yeah. I suppose we address that by we knew from the outset what we wanted to do. We knew the direction of travel that we wanted. We knew that we we didn't want an organization that would just basically provide you with a piece of software. And then anything that we try and do in the future, we're gonna be hit with charges for, or the speed in which they react to the things that we need to do wasn't gonna be there.
Craig Rainford:We we kind of, like, wanted that partnership working to, I suppose, make sure that they're, to a certain degree, an extension of our business. So, yeah, I I think that was, like, the particular challenge that I've experienced. But, yeah, no doubt there's there's sort of like several more out there, for sure, but it all it purely depends on where that current company is and what the current state of play is, I suppose, that they're trying to fix.
Hayley Levene:So when you talk about, like, the partnership approach that you wanted, how did you find that with Radar
Craig Rainford:Healthcare? Yeah. Really good from from the very start. Everything that we were kind of, like, told through the sort of, like, demoing and tendering process came to fruition really, which, you know, was really encouraging up to the point where I obviously left the organization. We, it was quite stressful, I suppose, the initial things that we had to do because there was timescales to everything that we were doing.
Craig Rainford:We had, we had licenses for systems that were ending very, very quickly. There was big processes that we needed to get into radar. And if anything, it kind of the good thing about it was that it gained gave us sort of like a clear pathway in terms of what we had to do in the system and when. So there was a particular piece, a particular event that we need needed to build sort of, like, very quickly. Turns out, I think to this day, it's still the biggest event that's ever been built in radar.
Craig Rainford:Don't know whether that's quite right. Probably have to check it. But certainly at the time and certainly up to last year, it was the biggest. I don't know whether it's been replaced since. But, yeah, it was a very big event and very complex.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. But, you know, even just through that, as you say, Sarah was our project manager. The amount of time Sarah and I spoke over those sort of like 2 months in getting everything doing, we basically pretty much became best friends, I think, because we spoke, like, every day. And, you know, there was other members of the team, the project team that I know kind of, like, worked on that particular part of the project as well. So straight away, I knew that the partnership working was there straight away.
Craig Rainford:Everybody knew what we needed to do. They knew what we needed to deliver, and we did it. And, again, it's sort of like going back to the last question. I think that's important as well, you know, to make sure that partnership working is successful, both sides of that party, they need to know what what the goals are, what the challenges are, and, you know, where we ultimately need to get to. So it's about being open and honest, I suppose.
Craig Rainford:And, yeah, right throughout, we've we've had that with Radar.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. It's really good that you say that. We when I talk to customers for case straight calls or, in the podcast, actually, we had Milton Keynes on a podcast a few weeks ago, and he, Paul, you as the risk manager, there, he said that because they they had to change systems and move to the new LFPSC service all in one go. And he said if I look back, I probably wouldn't have done it in one go. However, the partnership approach has helped us through this.
Hayley Levene:And it's I think I think it might have been you that said it when we were talking to you about your case today and, said that you've not seen this in a supplier before. So why do you think this is so rare? Obviously, you can start to hear what you said.
Craig Rainford:It's the $1,000,000 question, isn't it? I I I honestly don't know. I think you I think what Radar do really well is they focus on the customer. The customer is the most important thing. So, you know, the way that they've kind of like structured the business in the background, the fact that you're assigned a project manager at the start, the fact that you're assigned a customer success manager, there's obviously the customer support team that kind of like underpin all of that as well.
Craig Rainford:So there's a number of different layers to the support that you've got. There's an escalation path that you can go through and everybody's kind of like a part of that process from the very beginning. So it's not like you have somebody, which is what I've seen in the past. You have somebody that's kind of working with you and then you get to a point where they've kind of like finished your bit of the work and maybe you're you're now just an in live customer and you just need, you know, hand holding, so, like, through the process and you just need to be looked after and you get passed on to somebody else, but maybe they don't know, like, the history of you as a customer and what you've gone through and the complex work that maybe you've gone through, particularly what we've done with Radar. So that's where things can kind of maybe be a little bit unraveled.
Craig Rainford:So, yeah, I think from what I've seen from Radar, and I don't I I have no idea why it's so unique. And maybe it's not unique. Maybe it's just it is out there, but radar just do it very well. It certainly it stood out for me. And, yeah, I mean, we've had working groups sort of like through the process.
Craig Rainford:It's not all been me. I've had, I had people within sort of like 4 seasons that were supporting me as well. And everybody sort of like said the same thing. So this isn't me sort of like sat here saying this because I'm now working for Radar and I wanna make him sound good. It's it was right right throughout the business.
Craig Rainford:And I suppose with that, the the sense of achievement that you get from you deliver something to what we believe we want and then that goes out into it goes out into the business. And the sense of achievement that you get when you start hearing feedback from people that I'm really enjoying using the system. It's much better than the other system that we were using. That's obviously massively satisfying. And there are things that we didn't get right because you will never get everything right in one go.
Craig Rainford:But I also think that's like really important in a project as well that you can have a bit of a a you said we did type thing because at the end of the day, the way we tried to push it in 4 seasons was that this is this is their system. So it's not Radar system. It's it's their system and they need to kind of like own it as a product. So if they want to do something, and this isn't necessarily the people that are just sat on the project team delivering it, it also goes down to the people that are, you know, the operators, the people that are gonna be using it, you know, every day because it's more important that they get a good user experience and that they enjoy using the system. If they don't enjoy using it, they're not gonna use it.
Craig Rainford:And, obviously, they have to use it because it's part of their system, but they won't they'll probably put in the very the very least to do what they need to do to do their job. So if you can give them a good user experience, then I suppose a byproduct of that is that you get good data that kinda comes out of there and you get then you get good insights, and you get better outcomes then for, you know, the residents, patients, service users that are actually using that system.
Hayley Levene:Does it make you feel proud when people give you the good feedback on your own?
Craig Rainford:100%. I mean, what can be more satisfying than that if you've worked on something and you get good feedback? There's no better feeling. There really isn't. And as I said, doing that for one company, and obviously doing it with Radar and doing it with sort of like other products and stuff like that, the opportunity to sort of like come to Radar gave me the opportunity to do that on a wider scale.
Craig Rainford:You know, I've seen firsthand the impact that it can have. You know, I've been out into care homes. I've rolled software out sort of like over the years. And, you know, when you can go out there and, you know, they're saying, oh, you're the one that did Radar or you're the one that project managed it or whatever, and you you just get that direct feedback. It's, yeah, it's satisfying, massively satisfying.
Craig Rainford:So, yeah, it's one of the main reasons, I suppose, that I moved over here. I can broaden my horizons and maybe look at the whole spectrum of health and social care and, yeah, just have a bigger impact hopefully across the industry, with a product that I like, that I know that can make a difference.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. When, like, moving here, obviously, after seeing and and having the impact that you have made, has anything made you think differently or do you still feel the same way?
Craig Rainford:No. I wouldn't say I wouldn't say differently. Obviously, I'm still very early in my journey, but from what I've seen so far, I, you know, every day is sort of, like, varied. I'm speaking to different customers. I'm finding things out about the system that I didn't know before, which is great.
Craig Rainford:And so I'm constantly learning as well because there's areas of the system that I didn't have the opportunity to use with 4 seasons because, as I say, every customer is different and they might not use all modules within the system. So just the fact that I can learn sort of like different areas of the system is great for me, because I'm learning as well. And then hopefully, my knowledge then I can obviously pass on to sort of like onboarding new customers.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. It's it's a really nice obviously, a really passionate, sector to work in. And when you do speak to people, everyone has so much passion. At the end of the day, it's not an easy place to work at all. So you don't go into this kind of role thinking, I'm gonna do it because it's easy.
Hayley Levene:You want to help people. Why do you think that it's such an amazing sector to work in?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. I've I've had conversations about this topic with so many different people, probably more so over the last, like, couple of years because of, like, the impact of COVID across the industry and stuff like that. And actually, last year, you'll know I was I was a guest of Radar as an employee of Four Seasons at the Care Show. Yeah. And I actually did a talk for you then as well.
Hayley Levene:You did.
Craig Rainford:But, yeah, whilst I was there, there was, there was a talk which had a number of sort of, like, senior figures from various, different it's all care home operators. And they were basically talking about, you know, the strains and the issues that are kind of like going on in health and social care at the moment. And one particular senior figure, he said something that, like, completely resonated with me, which was the people that are working, like, every day in these care homes, going in every day, delivering care, these incredible people, they don't do it as a job. They do it as a vocation. And I just think that is like, you can't put it in a better way.
Craig Rainford:There's, you know, through COVID, you know, many industries were sort of impacted because of COVID. And, you know, some of the things that you touched on was the fact that, you know, Tesco or Amazon, you know, they were offering, you know, a £1,000, like, joining bonus and things like that for, you know, minimum wage people. And what people chose, they chose to stay in care. Yeah. And they chose to stay there because they're kind of they're, like, morally invested in what they do.
Craig Rainford:They they they want to give care. They they're yeah. It's hard to sort of, like, explain, but they they care for the residents that they're looking after and the lens that, like, some of these people have gone, you know, that have gone to. COVID obviously ripped through, care homes up and down the country. And, you know, the stories that I was hearing, you know, in 4 seasons and no doubt it was happening sort of like all over the country.
Craig Rainford:You know, there was units that were just it was a COVID unit because all the residents on there had COVID and there was there was care workers that were basically prepared to just be based on that unit. They would be completely isolated from like the rest of the home. They would stay there in the spare bedroom so they wouldn't go home. And I just think, you know, that's an incredible thing to do. You're basically sacrificing yourself for, you know, the benefit of others, essentially.
Craig Rainford:And they'll get a huge sense of satisfaction from that, but, obviously, that can't be taken for granted. It's kinda going above and beyond sort of like what they're expected to do as a caregiver. But, yeah, I think you become I think once this sector has you, it has you. It certainly has me. I've been here for 20 years and I can't honestly see myself working in another sector because I just feel so involved with it.
Craig Rainford:And I just know there's so much that can be done, and there's so much opportunity. So, yeah, I think, yeah, it is just that you kind of become a part of it and it becomes a little bit you just want it every day. You wanna keep going back to it and you wanna keep doing it.
Hayley Levene:Now there's a BBC, like, sort of film, I think it's a short film, called Help. Have you seen it?
Craig Rainford:I haven't actually. No.
Hayley Levene:No. So it's got Jodie Comeran from Killing Eve.
Craig Rainford:Oh, okay.
Hayley Levene:And she it's all about the pandemic and, a care home in Liverpool. And obviously, you don't really understand it when you see it in the news. You empathize and you think, god, that must be awful. You don't really understand the issues and and the stress that people are going through. This film documents that situation so well and I was in tears watching it because I was like, great.
Hayley Levene:I work in this and I speak to these people and I still didn't understand. And I think she ended up on her own because all the staff got COVID as well and she was, like, running around looking after all these different residents who were really, really quite poorly. And they she tried to get through to 111, didn't answer. When they did answer, she was on hold for ages. She tried to ring an ambulance.
Hayley Levene:No one was coming. She had to lift this quite large man and, like, turn him around to make him feel more comfortable. And she ended up running away with one of the residents, to get him out of the the care home, because she was that stressed. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. But it just I don't know.
Hayley Levene:It's just so emotional, and I just thought, god, like, I'm so proud to work in what I do because I can actually help these people. Yeah.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. Yeah.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. I
Craig Rainford:can tell that that touched you just from you even talking about it then.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Yeah. Just really
Craig Rainford:It does like when you obviously, you hear about it, but maybe you don't have an appreciation of it. But when you see it
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Definitely.
Craig Rainford:And when you're in a home and you actually experience it, it is it's it's incredible, like, what they're what they're doing each and every day.
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:I think, you know, sometimes my job's, like, really difficult. Like, I can't do this. I'm so stressed. And you go into account and just think Yeah. What am I moaning about, really?
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, it puts things into perspective, really, doesn't it? But obviously, in the care sector, there's a huge recruitment crisis at the moment. And we're talking about how proud people feel, but actually, people are nervous because they see how hard it is.
Hayley Levene:What would you say to those people that want to do care but are nervous to take that step into the care the sec well, the whole sector?
Craig Rainford:Just do it.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Okay. It's as simple
Craig Rainford:as that. Obviously, I've not, in terms of, like, delivering care in a care home, that's obviously clearly not what I've done. But if people are, yeah, wanting to get into the sector and that particular area is of interest and they, they feel they can have an impact and, you know, they want to they want to be involved, then, yeah, I think the care industry would welcome anybody at this moment in time. Because like you say, there is a recruitment crisis, And, yeah, there's a huge sort of, like, shortage in in all areas, I think, you know, all different sort of, like, parts to what makes up a care home. So, yeah, just give it a try.
Craig Rainford:And once you give it a try, you'll never get out of there.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. It's a good thing, though.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. Definitely. Definitely.
Hayley Levene:So going back to your your role, why do you think a project manager is important?
Craig Rainford:So for Radar specifically, I think it makes sure that the customer understands 1st and foremost understands the product, and make sure that the customer essentially achieves everything that they want to achieve with the product. So a project manager has obviously got that knowledge and understanding of what the product is capable of. And there's no kind of like this is how radar works and that's the end of it. It's understanding sort of like from the customer side, what are you trying to do? What are your processes?
Craig Rainford:How do you work right now? In an ideal world, if you if you take the system element out of it, and this is what the way I tended to approach it in 4 seasons, I was like, strip away everything else. Don't think about, well, this is radar or this is this system or this is that system and trying to work in the in the constraints of what the system can do. If you could do anything, what would you do? How would you do it?
Craig Rainford:And then work that from there. There'll be things that the system can't do, but there might be ways around it. But I think the important thing is don't try and think about what you're trying to do with the constraints of the system. Think about in an ideal world, if you could do whatever you wanted, with any system, what would you do? And then work back from there.
Craig Rainford:And, yeah, that's what I did many a time with 4 seasons, and it seemed to work. And I think it's also valuable to understand, you know, what is it you're actually trying to get out of it? So what is the outcome? What is the data that you're trying to get out? What are you trying to analyze?
Craig Rainford:What are the insights that you're trying to gain? And also work back from there. So sometimes people start at the beginning and they just think about the processes and the questions that they're gonna ask. And then they get to the end and they've captured all of this data And then you ask them, right, so what we're gonna do with this data? Oh, well, I won't use that.
Craig Rainford:I I don't need that. I don't need that. And it's like, well, why have we asked it? Yeah. So it's about sometimes thinking upside down, really, and thinking from the end and then working back from there.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. I think that's pretty much it.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Mark Harrison is one of our customer success managers. I'm sure you've met him. He's he did a podcast, a few weeks ago, and he talked about how it like, when people ask for things, he always has to apologize because he just goes, why? Why?
Hayley Levene:Why? But what's the outcome? What's the outcome? And it's about forget everything else. Like, don't just buy a piece of software because you have to buy a piece of software.
Hayley Levene:Think about the outcome and then go, right. Okay. How are we gonna do it? And the fact that you've said the same thing, you know, it's just
Craig Rainford:Yeah. I think that that definitely is it because there there's so many wins to that if you do it that way. You you get the data that you want and you're not collecting anything that you don't need. Because of that, you improve the end user experience because they're not filling out forms all day for no reason whatsoever. Yeah.
Craig Rainford:They could be filling out forms, capturing data that nobody's ever gonna use. So what's the point? It's a waste of their time. If you can condense that and, I don't know, go from asking them 50 questions to asking them 25, but those 25 are the key things that you need to know about that service, on that particular topic. And then the time that they save, you know, if they have the frequency that they have to do that, whether they have to do it weekly or monthly or quarterly, whatever, if you add all of the things up of all the things that you would do, the time that you would save, that time could be spent delivering care to residents, and that's the most important thing.
Craig Rainford:So they shouldn't be sat there behind a computer or behind an iPad basically filling in forms all day. The idea is is that that's, I suppose evidences and allows them to capture the data that the the care that they're delivering. And then from that, they can analyze that and identify risks and opportunities to improve the service that they're given. So it's not supposed to hamper them. It's supposed to improve things and and make things better.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. Makes sense. So what are you most excited about, in the future at Radar Healthcare?
Craig Rainford:Most excited about? It's probably a little bit of a repeat of what I've said earlier, but it is working with all of the different customers. So just having the opportunity to, yeah, help lots more people than I have been before. Obviously, helping 4 seasons and doing everything that we've done there. Just doing that on a wider scale and across a broader spectrum of health and social care.
Craig Rainford:So not just care homes. Obviously, there's dentistries. There's ambulance services. There's NHS Trust. There's all sorts of different areas.
Craig Rainford:There's yeah. And I'm just really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck in really and, yeah, helping as many people as possible.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. So you can't use the same answer. To summarize, what, is your favorite part about working for Radhar Healthcare so far?
Craig Rainford:Favorite part, and I can't use the previous answer. I'll say the culture.
Hayley Levene:Okay.
Craig Rainford:Because I think the culture is really good. I think you can have the the culture is really important because you can have you can have an amazing product. You can have an amazing product that does amazing things, that does everything that you want it to do, but if you've not got the team behind it to just kind of like back that up and shore it up, then you essentially your product isn't as good as what it Yeah. As what it was. So, I think the the culture in this business is great.
Craig Rainford:Everybody's so supportive. I've been welcomed by all areas of the business, whether it's, you know, marketing yourself, people in development. I think we just do things in the right way. We make sure that the talent sort of like within the business, like, works for each other and looks after each other. Yeah.
Craig Rainford:And everybody helps each other, which is definitely the way that it should be. So having been on the other side of the fence and now being on this side, it's it's nice that the experience that I had probably from speaking to a small subset of people within Radar has now been, I can just see it sort of like throughout the business all over. Mhmm. So, yeah, that's definitely my favorite part.
Hayley Levene:That's really nice to hear. So now is the tricky question. So this is our What the Health Tech moment. So for our listeners, what this means is, a weird and wonderful situation that's kind of happened to you in the health and social care world. You can't think of anything weird and wonderful, just something that's impacted your life, something that's stood out.
Hayley Levene:But ideally, just something funny and weird and wonderful.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. So I have to be honest here. So I've I've had the opportunity to do a little bit of research because I've obviously watched all of the other podcasts, and I know that you asked that question to every guest that you have on. So I've had the opportunity to think long and hard about what I could talk about. And there's there's always one memory that sort of like sticks out from my time, with Four Seasons, which I think is yeah.
Craig Rainford:I mean, for me, it was like, wow. What a moment. So yeah. So at the time, this was probably like 4, maybe 5 years ago. So I was working for, Brighterkind, which is essentially one of the 3 brands within Four Seasons.
Craig Rainford:So there's 3 brands in there, all kind of like specialized in different areas of health and social care. But at the time, I was working for BrighterKind. And at the core of, like, everything that BrighterKind did was its core values and its culture. And that was just, it was embedded everywhere in terms of what they do. And one of the the sayings that was in was in Bratakind was love every day.
Craig Rainford:And and that saying will be forever sort of like etched in my head because I heard it pretty much every other day. Whether it was, you know, care staff sort of like saying it to residents, residents saying it back to care staff. So it's just nice that it's kind of like that whole positive sort of like mentality and things.
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:So one of the other sort of like areas of Bratakind was, they had like signature elements. So parts of the business that kind of, I suppose, were their unique selling point and then and the nice parts of the business. And one of them was called, creating magic moments. So and that can kinda come in, you know, any shape or size or whatever. But this particular story was about, a lady called Muriel, who was based who was a resident, a care home in Chester called, I think it was Crabwall Hall.
Craig Rainford:So Muriel's magic moment was a wish that she had, believe it or not, to ride in a hot air balloon.
Hayley Levene:Okay.
Craig Rainford:Now Is that
Hayley Levene:really random?
Craig Rainford:Yeah. Now this lady was soon to be turning a 100.
Hayley Levene:Oh, really?
Craig Rainford:And the kind of, like, wish stemmed back from a conversation that she'd had with an older brother years ago who flew in a hot air balloon, and it kind of must have just stuck in her memory, sort of, like, over the years. And she basically had a wish that that's what she wanted to do. I mean, I don't think I'd go in a hot air balloon now, you know, at 25 years old. I can't imagine going up there, you know, when you're a 100. But anyway, that's what she wanted.
Craig Rainford:That was her wish. Yeah. And the care home made that happen. Aw. So, yeah, one particular morning, they the home manager at the time accompanied the, accompanied Muriel to, like, the location.
Craig Rainford:She had no idea where she was going. It was very early morning. So the idea was is that she was gonna go on this, flight for, like, an early morning flight
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:Where she would basically be up in the sky to see the sunrise. And that's what happened. Now there's a there's an article online somewhere
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:And there's a picture that was taken where this is kind of like pre flight. And, like, her face is just, like, unbelievable. Like, you've never seen somebody so happy. And it's obviously you know, when you were talking about, obviously, thinking about how passionate people are about working in the set too, it's kind of like those moments, I suppose. Yeah.
Craig Rainford:So, yeah, after that, you know, the home took it sort of like one step further. When she came back to the care home, there was a party for her, where, like, family and stuff like that were there. Obviously, all the other residents, all the staff and stuff, and they let off a 100 balloons for her. So, yeah, just like, you know, just a really sort of, like, touching cute.
Hayley Levene:Yeah.
Craig Rainford:Touching moment. So, yeah, that kind of like always sticks in the back of my head as sort of like a a wonderful moment that happened. And there's there's there'll be many, many more of them up and down the country, not just obviously in 4 seasons of Bratakind, but no doubt all over the country. But that's a particular one that sticks out for me.
Hayley Levene:It's so it's just I've got a tear in my eyes. It's so cute to hear stories like that. And it annoys me when you see the news and you see all these negative stories and these kind of stories just get lost. And you just, like, look at the amazing things that they've just done. And you're just reporting stupid stuff that you didn't need to report.
Craig Rainford:Yeah. Yeah.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. That's just my rant for the delay. Yep. It frustrates me. But that's lovely.
Hayley Levene:That's really lovely. I'm gonna look for that article and
Craig Rainford:Yep.
Hayley Levene:Yeah. I'll share it as well. Got it. Really nice. Yeah.
Hayley Levene:But thank you so much for coming. It's been really nice to talk to you today. I hope you've enjoyed it.
Craig Rainford:Uh-huh, actually. Good.
Hayley Levene:I'm glad. So next week, we're gonna hear from Mark Fewster, chief product officer at Radar Healthcare. So Mark is gonna talk about our innovation roadmap and what's to come for the products. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you have any questions for us, our guests, for Craig, then please email what the health tech at radiohealthcare.com.
Hayley Levene:Thank you. Thanks, Craig.
Craig Rainford:Thank you.
